February can be a difficult month. One reason is that there are typically only 28 days in the month. Sales people who are experienced have an internal clock for 30 or 31 days. We often underestimate how quickly the month flies by, and with three less days to work with, it’s often too late to catch up. Most months clubs have tremendous closeouts each month. That means that every possible lead has been called and worked very hard. Typically, new months begin slow and build steam as sales people develop new prospects and start working them into their sales system. February is hard because by the time steam starts to pick up three or four days have passed, and with three days less you can see that 20 percent or more of your month is gone.
Make today count. In February, or any day, you have to make today count. There can be no bad days or off days — every day has to matter. Often sales people will respond to a bad day with, “I will make it up tomorrow.” Often, if you follow your new leads, make appointments, stay consistent with your approach, you won’t have a missed day. I believe sales reps should sell every day of the month, even the days they don’t work. You should always have far more appointments than days in the month. You should always see far more prospects than days in the month, and therefore you should sell more sales than the number of days in the month. Often I have heard sales managers talk about the number of days worked. I often think in terms of the whole month, because prospects are not going to come in only on the day you work, but they will come in on their own schedule. Make sure you have a way to capture these sales even when a sales rep is not on the schedule.
Today matters, because you can’t dwell on yesterday. You don’t have tomorrow. All you have is today. Every day must be successful. Every day you must maximize your appointment making. You should be setting up your working days and your non-working days. You need to have the attitude that you make money seven days a week. There is nothing better than being off for two days than coming in to see that you had a handful of sales on your day or days off. If you focus on appointment making and following up, it will not matter how many days are in a month. Make every day count, don’t start slow, don’t finish hard, be consistent and make every calendar day count.
Chuck Hall is the executive director at Big Vanilla Athletic Clubs.
